


back to the room where we sold our souls

by orphan_account



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 20:35:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18818533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The summer left Liam's head spinning. And he wants to open up to more people than Chowder, he really does. But not everyone's Chowder. And this time Liam can't fix what's happened.





	back to the room where we sold our souls

**Author's Note:**

> A bit of a different work for me! Half character study, half love story. Titles from Souls by Hippo Campus.
> 
> Content Warnings: frank discussions of sexual assault, homophobia, racism, Islamaphobia, violence, murder, and prison. Take care of yourselves.
> 
> *AND I FORGOT: in this eerily similar alternate universe, Nursey won the dib flip. Dex was not as mad as he could've been because it was a fair flip. Still pissed about it at first.

“Girls ‘round here don’t put out.”

Liam only had a couple days left at home, and he knew he should probably just ignore the two guys next to him in the parking lot. But fuck if Samwell hadn’t changed Liam.

He knew these guys from Dean’s dock next to his uncle’s. They were definitely imports from New Hampshire or—God forbid—Rhode Island. They were also massive dicks. He’d heard some of the shit they’ve spewed, but he’d never had the time to confront them. And most of the summer he figured he shouldn’t. Home wasn’t like Samwell, you couldn’t just say something to people like that. There was a lot more involved. And most of the time it wasn’t worth it.

“Eh, they’ll put out,” said the shorter of the two. “You just gotta get the right girls in the right conditions.”

The taller one snorted. “Like who?”

“Y’know the parties Woelfel throws?”

“Yeah.”

“Girls there get wasted and then they’re prime. Even the Poindexter girl let me get a feel under her shirt.”

As soon as the words left the short guy’s mouth, Liam lost all control of his body. He turned and threw a punch right into the guy’s jaw. Short guy took a step back before ramming his head into Liam’s stomach, throwing both of them to the ground. Liam pushed his knee into the guy’s crotch, taking the couple seconds of shock to flip them over. He hit the short guy’s nose again and again until blood streamed down his face.

“Shut...the fuck...up! You...don’t...get...to fuck...fucking...say...that!” His words slid between punches. Once his adrenaline went down, he sat back on the ground, took a few breaths, and stood up. He looked down at the short guy, who was gasping, flames locked in his eyes.

“You fucking leave my sister and her friends alone, or I’ll personally make your life hell.”

Short guy shot Liam a sharp and nasty smile. “So you can end up in the cell like your brother?” Liam froze. “Oh yeah, little Poindexter, I know all about Nathan. I’d watch what you do—I heard the cops’ve got your neighborhood under surveillance. Or should I say, trailer park.”

_These motherfuckers_. They probably didn’t live in a house any fucking better than his parents’ double wide and yet they had the fucking _audacity_ —

“LIAM! LET’S GO!” Ciaran’s voice carried pretty well across the parking lot from Harvey’s Hardware. Liam took one last look at the short guy before shaking his hands out and leaving. Pain settled in his stomach and his hand. Ciaran met him with an appraising look.

“The fuck did you do?”

“Dean’s summer rats pissed me off. I don’t wanna talk about it.”

Ciaran sighed and climbed into the truck. Liam followed. “Those knuckles are gonna look real good to your coaches next week.”

“They’re fine. I’ll ice ‘em and they’ll be okay for practice.”

Ciaran gave him another look before starting the truck. When they passed the two on their way out of the lot, the taller one flipped them off. Liam just rested his head against the window, letting it rattle over the cracks in the road.

They pulled into Liam’s uncle and dad’s shop. Ciaran turned the truck off but didn’t make any motion to get out. Liam looked at him and sighed.

“Asshats were talking about sexually assaulting girls at Woelfel’s parties. One of ‘em claimed he felt Liv up.”

Ciaran was quiet, but Liam still heard the shit he whispered.

“Also they brought Nathan up.”

Ciaran gave him a hard look. “You don’t get to go punching people.”

“I get it, I fucked up. Can we just get my run in with Pops over so I might have a prayer of not being hanged tonight?”

Ciaran blinked, but got out of the truck. Liam followed, grabbing the bag from Harvey’s out of the back.

Liam liked the shop more than anything to do with the boats, but he never got paid working at the shop. His mother’s brother gave him six bucks an hour for what usually was a 60 hour work week during his summer break. Working on the boats was fine, it really was, but Liam felt like himself in the shop. He liked fixing things. Besides, when he and his father still had a pretty good relationship, the shop was “their place.” He learned everything he knew from his father. The shop had good memories, really good ones.

“Got those screws for me?” Liam’s uncle Dan called from the behind a dryer. Liam held up the bag in his hand.

“Yes sir.”

“Good.” Dan popped up, wire cutters in hand. “Uh, throw them on the bench over there, I’ll deal with them later. Ciaran, wanna help me move this?”

Ciaran jumped in to help. Liam left the bag on the bench and headed towards the back. He found his father under a really nice Camaro that does not belong here at all.

“Where’d you get this?”

His father slid out from under it. “Some Southern fellow on his way to New Brunswick broke down not too far from here. Called us up, and we shoved it down here.”

“Where is he?”

His father shrugged, sitting up. “Said he’d be back around closing time. It’ll be done by then.” His eyebrows then skyrocketed into his hairline. “What’d you do to your hand?”

Liam looked at his hand. His knuckles were starting to wear real bruises, not just red from impact. “Got into it with one of Dean’s summer workers.”

His father pinched the bridge of his nose. “William—”

“He insulted the family! And he touched Liv.”

His father looked at him but didn’t move. “There’s an ice pack in my lunchbox. That might help make it look better before your mother sees it.”

Liam grabbed it and a stool. His father slid back under the Camaro.

“When d’you head back down to school?”

“Day after tomorrow. Ciaran’s taking me into Portland and I’ve got a train from there to Boston. I’ll probably take T from Boston to Samwell if someone can’t give me a ride.”

“Get your paycheck?”

“Going to tomorrow morning.” Liam hated how stiff all this was. He knew his father loved him still, as obvious by the fact that he could still come home, but coming out had broken them. Liam didn’t know how to fix it. His father slid back out.

“Turn it over for me?”

Liam got up and reached into the car, turning it on. It sprung to life. His father shot him a thumbs up. Liam turned it back off again.

“All right, we can head home early. I’ll let Dan handle the car.” Liam nodded. He took the ice pack off his hand and flexed his fingers. It wasn’t too bad. He headed back towards the truck, clapping his hand on Ciaran’s shoulder on his way. Ciaran, who was asleep in the chair, shook himself awake. Liam smirked at him before exiting the shop into the bright evening light. He climbed into the back of the truck’s cab. Ciaran and his father joined him in a few minutes.

The windows were rolled down. Liam’s father sailed past the docks and the salty sea air stung Liam’s nose. The ocean was the hardest part of leaving for Samwell. Every time Liam missed it a little bit more. Sure, he still had 36 hours. But that was only 36 hours.

He was out of the truck almost instantly, grabbing his bag out of the back. He let the screen door slam behind him.

“Have you seen Liv?”

His mother looked up from her pile of papers. “Oh, no ‘hi Ma, how are you Ma?’ No ‘thanks Ma for doing my laundry so I’m only going to school with one dirty outfit?’ Am I officially invisible to you?”

Liam sighed and kissed his mother on the head like he was ten again. “Hi Ma.”

“Liv’s out back husking corn and I’m sure she wouldn’t mind help.” Liam dropped his bag in his room and headed for the back door. “And you’d better have a good explanation for that hand!”

Liam shut the door behind him. Liv looked up from her phone, the bucket of corn abandoned next to her. “Hey stranger.”

“Hey,” he said, taking a seat. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Did one of Dean’s scumbags touch you without your permission?”

Liv lowered her phone. “What do you mean?”

“Today, a fucking rat who works for Dean said he felt you up when you got drunk at one of Woelfel’s parties. I wanted to know if it was true and to see if you were okay.”

Liv nodded slowly. “He...yeah. There was an incident. It was a month ago I guess? It’s...I’d just like to forget it. But thanks for worrying about me.”

“Well, I punched him for you.”

Liv gave him a small smile. “Thanks.”

“And I’m sorry it even happened to begin with.”

“Not your fault he’s an asshole. Wanna help me with this so Ma doesn’t murder me for not doing it?”

“Sure.”

••••••••••

**Dex 11:42a**  
Chowder where are you?

**Chowder 11:43a**  
Just got off the plane, be there soon

Liam bounced his phone on his leg as he waited. He hated Logan so, so much. He just wanted to get to Samwell, but he promised Chowder he meet him so they wouldn’t be alone on the ride there.

“Hey!” Chowder pretty much materialized in front of Liam. Liam stood up and hugged him. Chowder hugs were so warm and Liam realized how much he missed him over the summer.

“Hey man, how was the flight?”

“Not too bad, actually. I’m just gonna grab my bag.” Liam followed Chowder to the baggage carousel. Chowder told him about his little sister’s soccer team and their “pranks”—which Liam fully got, no ten year old had ever set up good pranks. It filled the space until they were on the T to Samwell.

“So,” Chowder said. “How are you holding up?”

Chowder had been the only one Liam had fully updated over the summer about his situation. Liam shrugged. “Been better.”

“Whoever you punched must’ve deserves it.”

Liam looked down at his knuckles. “Yeah. Ciaran tried to tell me it was foolish, but I don’t regret it.”

“Bitty’s going to mom you once he sees them.” The thought brings a smile to Liam’s face.

“‘Course he will.”

“Hey,” Chowder started, shifting himself to sit up straight. “Speaking of Bitty, does anyone else know? About...you know.”

Liam shook his head. His mouth felt dry.

“Okay. I just wanted to check, didn’t know if it was something you had shared or not.”

“Thanks.” He wanted to tell Chowder why, but he didn’t know how to. Then again, he thought Chowder might’ve known why already.

“Has there been a date set?”

“Not yet.”

“Are you going to see him beforehand?”

His mother wanted him to. Actually, that had been her goodbye to him. _Go see your brother. He could use your support._ Support Liam’s ass. He didn’t want to be there for a brother who acted like the two of them weren’t even related.

“No.” It was a simple, no strings attached answer. Chowder nodded.

“If you change your mind—and I’m not saying you have to, but if you do—and you need someone to be there with you, let me know.” Liam nodded, even though he would never ask Chowder to go with him. His skin felt itchy and he wanted off the subject of Nathan.

“When’s Cait coming out?”

Chowder gave him a big smile, but Liam could still see concern behind it.

••••••••••

“Holy shit Dex,” Ollie said when Liam stripped his shirt off in the locker room at the first practice of the year.

“What?” Liam looked down at his torso, his brain connecting Ollie’s shock and his condition. The bruise from the fight back home was a good purple color with spidery green stripes through it. “Oh yeah, that.”

“ _Oh yeah, that,_ ” Nursey half-heartedly attempted to sound like Liam. He raised an eyebrow at the bruise. “Jesus Dex, what’d you do?”

“One on one with a human sized lobster,” Liam deadpanned in response. “C’mon, Nurse, what d’you think I did?”

“Dunno, one on one with a human sized lobster seems pretty likely.” Liam rolled his eyes and shoved Nursey. Nursey snickered just as Chowder came into the locker room and hissed loudly.

“That from the guy you punched?” He asked, changing out of his own clothes.

“Yeah.” Liam pulled his practice jersey over his head.

“Who’d you punch?” Nursey asked like he was shocked that Liam actually punched someone.

“No one you know.”

“But Chowder knows?”

“Nursey,” Bitty said from his locker with edge in his voice, “stop. Dex, no punching people.”

“I’m not actively searching for fights!” Dex protested.

“Still, don’t.”

Murray came in just then and gave them five minutes to be on the ice.

“But seriously Dex,” Nursey poked as they head out to the ice. “Who’d you punch?”

Liam rolled his eyes. “Later, Nurse.”

••••••••••

Later turned into Never and the bruises on Liam’s stomach and knuckles faded once he got settled into classes. Fall snuck up on him, though, and so did his mother’s picking.

“Have you gone to see him, Liam?”

Liam bit his knuckle, glad for the phone separation. “No.”

His mother clicked her tongue and sighed. “You should see him. I’m sure he’s been real nervous and could use a familiar face.”

He wanted to scream. He didn’t want to think about Nathan. There were still months before he went to trial and it was only going to get worse. He had classes to focus on, games to play, he didn’t want this to fuck with that. He didn’t ask for his brother to—

“Liam, are you still there?”

Liam blinked. “Yeah, um, I should go Ma. I have…”

“Oh, yes, sure, okay. I’ll talk to you later. And _go see your brother_. Love you.”

“Love you too.” He hung up and stared at his phone for a while. His mother had a really unrealistic view of his life.

An hour later when his roommate came in, Liam had been zoned out in front of his Calc textbook for a good twenty minutes. His brain was on an infinite loop of torture that he couldn’t shake. Even his brief conversation with his roommate was from neutral. He wondered how long he could stare at derivatives before he actually lost his mind.

So he shut his textbook, grabbed his jacket, and went for a walk.

Liam was hoping that how campus looked right now would take his mind off of Nathan, but it didn’t. If anything, he was thinking about it more than he had staring at his Calc book.

It was funny, because Liam and Nathan used to be so close. Sure, they were at each other’s throats all the time, but Liam had a person. Even when Liam told him about being gay his freshman year of high school and Nathan got upset, he was still there. Then Nathan dropped off the face of the planet after he dropped out of school and Liam lost his person. And to out of the blue hear he’d been arrested for manslaughter threw his entire family. The news had come two weeks before Liam had come back to school. Now it was October and he wasn’t over it. He figured that a lot of his reluctance came from some realizations he’d had after starting at Samwell. The first being that Liam was allowed to be gay. The second being that Nathan treated Liam like shit from the time Liam came out to him to the time he left home. And the final being that the only way Liam would stop being Nathan Poindexter’s twin brother William is if he actually stood up for himself.

Seeing Nathan would’ve shattered any semblance of the brother he’d been before everything fell apart.

Liam stopped walking at the Pond’s edge. He looked down into the water, his shadowy reflection staring back at him. He thought that’d make him feel something, like in the movies. But this was no movie and he felt just as lost as before. He sighed and walked back to his dorm.

••••••••••

“Poindorkster out of a flannel? Are you sure you haven’t pregamed without us?” 

Nursey smirked at Liam from the kitchen doorway, the yellowed lights making him look warm. Liam just shoved Nursey’s shoulder, because today was not the day to fight with him. It was Liam’s birthday, dammit, and he was going to enjoy it. Besides, he wore shirts that weren’t flannels pretty regularly. Nursey was just too oblivious to notice.

“Wouldn’t have to if you didn’t live here without me.” Honestly, Liam wasn’t still bitter about the dib flip and Nursey knew that. It was like an inside joke, only it was an inside argument. It was a gloat for Nursey and a pity for Liam. And they both knew someone was bound to give Liam dibs out of the graduating seniors.

“Bet,” Nursey said, eyebrows titled at just the right angle to make his face look sharper. “Christ, why is Chowder taking so long?”

Liam sighed and leaned back towards the stairs. “C! WE’RE GONNA BE LATE!”

There was a thump and a muffled shit and then a “coming!” Liam snorted and crossed his arms. Nursey waggled his eyebrows at him and he started laughing.

“What’s funny?” Chowder asked from the stairs, tumbling down at a slightly alarming speed to crash into Liam for a hug. Liam braced himself on Nursey’s arm because it was closer than the wall.

“You. Let’s go, I need ice cream and shitty alcohol.” Chowder peeled himself off of Liam and they grabbed jackets, heading out the door.

“Bro, ice cream? We’re getting you cake,” Nursey said with a bump into his arm. “Also singing happy birthday really loud and off-key.”

“Cake? What?”

“It’s your _birthday_ , man.” Nursey bumped his arm again and Liam scowled at him.

“That’s a great explanation Nurse. Really putting those English skills to use.”

“ _Well_ ,” Chowder said pointedly, interjecting his arm between Liam and Nursey from behind Liam before Nursey could bump him again, “this is the first birthday of yours that we haven’t had a game so yes we’re getting cake and you’re ‘buying’ halfway decent beer from Stop & Shop since you’re the only one that’s of age and Nursey’s fake ID is shit.”

“Also I lost it so it’s not even helpful.”

Liam raised an eyebrow. “Only you, Nursey, only you. That sounds good though.”

They hit up Stop & Shop and acquire a small store bought cake, beer, and plastic forks. October bit through Liam’s sweatshirt, but he survived. However, when they got to Faber, Liam was confused.

“What are we doing here?”

Nursey produced keys out of his pocket through some sort of witchcraft. “I begged Ford for keys. Now we have the roof on reserve to celebrate, bro.”

Liam looked between Chowder and Nursey, deciding against asking what they promised Ford. Then he walked through the door Nursey held open. They weaved through hallways they’d never been down, looking for the door to the roof. They found it next to the other storage closet. The stairs were endless. For a one story building, albeit tall, there were a lot of stairs to get up to the roof.

“Oh wow,” Chowder said once they were out. Liam couldn’t disagree. The sky was orange with the dying daylight and Samwell from above was kind of beautiful. He looked over at Nursey, who was looking at him. Liam had words in his mouth, really soft ones, but they came out of nowhere and he couldn’t even figure out what the were. So he said something else.

“I was promised off-key Happy Birthday. I feel like you need to honor that.”

Nursey opened his mouth, but he didn’t say anything, like he was considering what he should say. Liam wondered what he was thinking. “Well, if you release your death grip on the cake, I will sing the worst version of Happy Birthday I can. Hey, C, wanna do cha-cha-chas?”

Chowder snorts. “Duh, that’s, like, required in Happy Birthday.”

Liam handed Nursey the Stop & Shop bag. Nursey sat down and pulled the cake out, pulling the plastic top off. “Now,” he said as Liam and Chowder sat down. “We don’t have candles because we neglected to bring those, so we’re just going to omit that part. Christopher, are you prepared?”

He gave Chowder the same waggled eyebrows he gave Liam earlier. Chowder grins. “Indeed, Derek.”

Nursey cleared his throat and started singing. He was trying really hard to sound bad, and Liam knew this because Nursey was a pretty fair singer as far as he knew. And Chowder’s dramatic-whispered _cha-cha-cha!_ was what iced the cake. Liam’s side hurt from laughing by the end of it. Once they all calmed down, Liam choked out a “Grammy-award winning performance there.”

“Only the best for you Dex.”

The cake was pretty decent for store bought. After a while, once the sun was down, they all laid back and looked at the sky. Samwell wasn’t terribly light polluted at night, allowing some of the brighter ones to pop out. Liam named all the ones he can remember from his astronomy class in high school and years of fisherman superstition. Nursey made a few bad space jokes. Then they fell silent.

“Hey,” Nursey said into it. “Is Chow awake?”

Liam turned his head to look at Chowder, who was out cold. “No.”

“We should probably, like, leave.”

Liam hums. “But not right this second.”

“Nah, not right this second.” There was an airplane that blinked across the sky. Liam followed it with his eyes. “So is twenty one infinitely better than twenty?”

Liam chuckled. “Not really. Still had to get up and do diff eq homework this morning.”

“Same shit, different year?”

“Pretty much.” Nursey gave Liam a look and those soft words were back in his mouth—only this time he understood them.

And oh _shit_.

Liam knew Nursey was objectively attractive. That was no secret. But he didn’t realize that _Nursey_ was _attractive_ to _him_. But, like, up here on the roof of Faber semi-illegally in the middle of the night, Liam had this realization. He didn’t know what the fuck do to with that.

“We should probably go. It’s cold.”

Nursey sighed. “Yeah, we probably should.”

Liam sat up and blinked the fuzz out of his eyes. He poked Chowder in the ribs. “Hey, we gotta go.”

“Mmfrgh.” Chowder made no move to get up.

Liam poked him again. “Sleepyhead, c’mon. You can’t get frostbite on my watch.”

Chowder cracked open an eye before bolting up. “Oh my god I fell asleep.”

“Yeah,” Nursey said from somewhere above Liam. He offered Chowder a hand and pulled him up, and then one to Liam. Liam considered his options and took it. Somehow, Nursey’s hand was warm. This wasn’t helping.

He stuck the trash in the Stop & Shop bag and the three of them headed back down.

“Good birthday even though I fell asleep?”

“Yeah, Chowder, it was one of the best.”

••••••••••

When November came, Liam forgot about Nathan. He had bigger fish to fry; hockey was in full swing now, he accidentally started a point streak, midterms somehow happened, and the thing with Nursey hadn’t gone away. Actually, the thing with Nursey had gotten worse. It was like Liam noticing it was open invitation for more feelings. His emotions were trying to fight his logic and it just made life exhausting. It’d only been two weeks, but it explained a lot of things and suddenly it been like two years of pining. And it didn’t help that Nursey was suddenly around all the time.

Liam wanted to not be thinking. Which made the house party a few blocks from Frat Row seem like a good idea.

Nursey had asked him about it in the library the day before. Liam hadn’t heard anything about it, but it didn’t sound too bad. So they planned to go. Chowder had already made plans with Cait, and asking other team people never came up, leaving it just them two. Which was fine—Liam could still have a good time. Not a problem. Easy decision.

Though now, Liam was regretting it.

“Why do you look so fucking lonely?” Maria, the girl who sat on the other side of him and Chowder in their Web Design class, materialized out of nowhere next to him. Liam wouldn’t say he was friends with her, but he liked her well enough. Liam thought about what he probably looked like—nursing his beer in the corner, staring at Nursey being a normal individual. It wasn’t a good picture in his head. He sighed.

“I’m not lonely.”

“Could’ve fooled me.” She leaned back against the wall, tilting her head into Liam’s space. “That guy ditch you or something?”

_That guy_ was Nursey. Liam shrugged. “Not exactly.”

Truly he hadn’t. He and Liam had been separated by something somewhere and hadn’t found their way back together yet. Mostly because now Liam was moping in the corner over his really pathetic crush.

Maria looked at him and then at Nursey and back. Then she sucked in a breath. “Wait—”

Liam groaned. “Don’t say it. If you do, it’s real.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“I—” He didn’t have a good answer. “Dunno. Just don’t wanna face up to the fact.”

“Oh buddy.” She gave him a sympathetic face.

“I know.” Nursey caught Liam’s eye and gave him a tongue. Liam raised his eyebrows in response and took a sip of beer.

“Well, I know I’m not part of this, but I think you should talk to him.” Liam looked at Maria. It was kind of cute that she thought he didn’t know Nursey well if at all. “Obviously he’s interested in you.”

“What?” She couldn’t possibly know that.

“He’s coming over right now.” She pointed, and sure enough Nursey was weaving through people. “Which is my cue to disappear. Good luck, see you Tuesday.”

Liam stared after her. He didn’t want to be here anymore.

“Willy P, my man.” Nursey flung himself back against the wall, lopsided and loose grin on his face. _God he’s pretty_.

“You’re drunk,” is all Liam could say.

“Actually, I’m not. Just in a good mood.” Then he searched Liam’s face. “But you’re not and that’s a problem.”

“I’m in a good mood.”

“No you’re not.”

“Yeah I am.”

“Nah, Dex, when you’re in a good mood it’s, like, visible.”

Liam snorted. “Visible how?”

Nursey’s eyes widen. “Wait—you don’t know?”

“Nurse, if I knew would I ask?” _What the fuck_.

“Man, okay, this is a tragedy. I need you to realize that when you’re in a good mood, you’re like the most radiant fucking being.”

Liam felt warm at the words. Nursey called him radiant…unbelievable. _Maybe_ , Liam thought, _just maybe_.

“Dex, you in there?” Nursey shifted himself so his arm braced him right next to Liam. He was close enough that Liam could smell his deodorant and stupid hair product and god was he pretty.

“Yeah, here,” he muttered.

“Good. Thought I lost you there for a second.” Then Nursey shifted himself again and moved just far enough away that all of Liam’s dreams got crushed. “So, what’ll make you smile?”

Nursey’s face is so open and inviting, but that phrase threw Liam back to Maine with Nathan after Liam got beat up by some group of older kids on the playground. Any time when they were both in elementary school and Liam was upset, that was what Nathan would ask. And now Liam’s mouth was cotton. He looked down at his beer and frowned. He wasn’t drunk enough for this, and he wasn’t going to let Nathan ruin his night. He downed the rest of his beer.

“Honestly, I kind of wanna get out of here. Go on an adventure.”

Nursey gave him a small smile. “Then I guess we should go on an adventure.”

Liam left his bottle somewhere and the two of them took off into the night. It had been unseasonably warm earlier, but now it was cold and Liam’s fleece-lined flannel wasn’t enough against the wind. Even Nursey pulled his hood up and zipped his vest.

“So, where shall we adventure to, Samwise Gamgee?” He asked. Liam scoffed.

“Why am I Sam?”

“Because, obviously, I’m Frodo. Duh.”

Liam worked really hard to not stick his tongue out at Nursey. “I think that Chowder would say we’re both Merry and Pippin and he’s Frodo.”

Nursey hummed. “You’re probably right. However, there’s still a question: where the fuck do we go?”

Liam bit his lip and took a bit of confidence. He walked in front of Nursey a ways and turned around to face him. “C’mon Nurse, first rule of adventuring is that there is not a _destination_ , but a _journey_. You just start going and end up somewhere.”

Nursey raised his eyebrows and laughed. “That was...kind of poetic there Dexy.”

Liam shrugged, taking a quick look behind him to make sure he wasn’t about to walk into a lamp post or something. “We’re making Lord of the Rings references here, it felt right.”

Nursey reached out and shoved Liam. “Walk normally before you trip and die.”

“Thought that was my line.” Nursey shoved him again. Liam giggled—fucking giggled—and faced forward.

They walked around campus and talked aimlessly. It felt right, like Liam was meant to be here in this moment. Like something was going to happen. But he wasn’t totally sure what was going to happen, or if it even was. Maybe he was reading this all wrong.

“You okay Dex?” Nursey asked the question out of nowhere. It caught Liam a little off guard. They were walking back to the Haus on a very dark and quiet frat row.

“I’m fine Nurse,” he answered carefully. “Why?”

Nursey shrugged. “You just seem weird lately. I’m worried about you.”

That explained a lot.

“I—” Liam was about to lie, but Nursey sounded so genuine and he couldn’t bring himself to do it, not entirely. “I’m just stressed. Nothing to be worried about, it’ll go away eventually.” Nursey snorted. “What?”

“I worry about you all the time.”

_This is the something_. His hands felt tingly and his voice cracked. “What? Why?”

Nursey stopped walking, grabbing Liam by the elbow. “I care about you. A lot. So I worry about you.”

Liam’s brain was short circuiting. “You...care about me.”

“Yeah. I, uh, I kind of don’t know how I’d live without you.”

And then Liam actually lost his mind.

He leaned in and pressed his lips against Nursey. This was the dumbest thing he’d ever done and was probably going to get absolutely murdered, but what was done was done. He pulled back with an apology already on his tongue, but Nursey beat him to it.

“Why’d you do that?”

It doesn’t sound unkind per say, but Liam was pretty sure it was intended to. He shook Nursey’s hand off his arm and took a step back. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have.”

Nursey shook his head. “Dex, I...fuck it.”

He stepped back into Liam’s space, grabbing Liam’s face and kissing him. Liam’s eyes fell shut and his hands wandered to Nursey’s waist. His skin was on fire. His brain couldn’t catch up. _I’m kissing Nursey, and he’s kissing me_.

When they pulled apart, Nursey smiled. “You’re so red right now.”

Liam opened his mouth and then closed it. He leaned forward and rested his forehead on Nursey’s shoulder. “I was hoping you wouldn’t notice.”

Nursey shook against him with silent laughter. “C’mon Poindexter, not notice? Not a chance in this world.”

Liam sighed and lifted his head. “We should probably talk about this.”

Nursey hummed. “Probably. But it’s late so I think we should table it for tomorrow.”

“Okay. That, uh, that works.” Liam felt at a loss with what to do. He stuck his hands into his pockets. Nursey’s eyes searched his face.

“Do you actually want to walk all the way to your dorm? ‘Cause you can crash here.”

Liam thought about it for a moment. “No, I’m gonna walk back. But I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Nursey nodded. “See you tomorrow.”

Then he disappeared inside. Liam stood in the cold, staring at the door before taking off toward his dorm.

He didn’t sleep a whole lot that night. He couldn’t stop thinking about Nursey.

**Author's Note:**

> Did you feel stuff? Do you hate my decision to call Dex Liam? Want to discuss stuff further or suggest me things? Come yell at me about it on my [tumblr](https://smhloudboy.tumblr.com)


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